Owthorpe Hall: an historic house

By John Potter Briscoe

A nineteenth century view of Owthorpe Hall.

THIS home of Colonel Hutchinson was situated on rising ground in the
vale of Belvoir, near the Fosse way, at a distance of two miles from
Langar, and seven miles from Belvoir Castle. The Rev. Julius Hutchinson,
a descendant of the great Parliamentarian, visited the ancestral home
about 1775. He described it as standing to the east of the village and
its church. The house was " large, handsome, lofty, and convenient,
possessing all the grace that size and symmetry could give it. The entrance
was by a flight of handsome steps into a large hall, occupying entirely
the centre of the house, lighted at the entrance by two large windows,
but at the further end by one much larger, in the expanse of which was
carried up a staircase that seemed to be perfectly in the air. On one
side of the hall was a long table, on the other a large fire-place: both
suited to ancient hospitality. On the right hand side of the hall were
three handsome rooms for the entertainment of guests. The sides of the
staircase and gallery were hung with pictures, and both served as an
orchestra either to the hall or to a large room over part of it, which
was a ball-room. To the left of the hall were the rooms commonly occupied
by the family. All parts were built so substantially, and so well secured,
that neither fire nor thieves could penetrate from room to room, nor
from one flight of stairs to another, if ever so little resisted." Thus
much for the structure.

The environments were these. "The western side of the house was
covered by the offices, a small village, and a church, interspersed
with many trees. The south, which was the front of entrance, looked
over a large extent of grass grounds which were the demesne, and were
bounded by hills covered with woods which Colonel Hutchinson had planted.
On the eastern side, the entertaining rooms opened on to a terrace,
which encircled a very large bowling-green or level lawn; next to this
had been a flower garden, and next to that a shrubbery, now become
a wood, through which vistas were cut to let in a view of Langar, the
seat of Lord Howe, at two miles, and of Belvoir Castle, at seven miles
distance. At the further end of this small wood was a spot (of about
ten acres), which appeared to have been a morass, and through which
ran a rivulet. This spot Colonel Hutchinson had dug into a great number
of canals, and planted the ground between them, leaving room for walks,
so that the whole formed at once a wilderness or bower, reservoirs
for fish, and a decoy for wild fowl. To the north, at some hundreds
yards distance, was a lake of water, which, filling the space between
the two quarters of woodland, appeared, as viewed from the large window
of the hall, like a moderate river, and beyond this the eye rested on
the wolds or high wilds which accompany the fosse-way towards Newark."

"The whole had been deserted near forty years, but resisted
the ravages of time so well as to discover the masterly hand by which
it had been planned and executed."

That the Hutchinsons were highly respected by the villagers admits
of no doubt. The descendant whose words we have used, writes upon this
phase in this language:—"The most extraordinary and gratifying
circumstance was the veneration for the family which still subsisted,
and which, at the period when the last possessor had by his will offered
this and all his estates in Nottinghamshire to be sold, and the produce
given to strangers, induced the tenants to offer a large advance of
their rents, and a good share of the money necessary for purchasing
the estates, in order to enable the remains of the family to come and
reside again among them. It was too late ! The Steward had contracted
with the executors and re-sold the most disirable part, whereof the
timber of Colonel Hutchinson's planting was valued at many thousand
pounds."

"Round the wide world in banishment we roam,
Forced from our
pleasing fields and native home:
Did we for these barbarians plant
and sow,
On these, on these our happy fields bestow?
Good heavens
! what dire effects from civil discord flow."(Dryden's translation of Virgil's first Eclogue.)

Owthorpe
Hall came into the possession of the Hutchinsons by purchase. After
a time Sir Thomas Hutchinson,
who was High Sheriff of Notts, in 18 James I. became
the owner of the entire Manor. Charles Hutchinson,
brother of John, acquired the house from Lucy Hutchinson,
and took up his residence here. In 1773 the estate passed
into the possession of Sir George Smith Bromley, Bart.
In 1776 the Rev. Julius Hutchinson visited Owthorpe and
removed a few pictures and works, all that remained to
him of those possessions. Several years afterwards the
Hall was demolished. About 1797 the Hall was occupied
by Mr. Renshaw. The house, about this time, was large
and formed "a square, with handsome, lofty, and convenient apartments;" and
was subsequently tenanted by
Miss Renshaw, who lived here in great retirement. Mrs.
Musters tells us that "the ornamental stone vases from
the garden were removed to Stoke, and still stand on the
pavement under the windows there." Stoke, it should
be remembered was the Notts, seat of the owners of
Owthorpe.